IBM Taps Twitter for Business Analytics, Enterprise Solutions
IBM (IBM) said it will help customers mine information from Twitter’s (TWTR) social network as another tool to make business decisions in what both companies are calling a “landmark partnership.”
IBM (IBM) said it will help customers mine information from Twitter’s (TWTR) social network as another tool to make business decisions in what both companies are calling a “landmark partnership.”
Both IBM and Twitter claim their alliance will have a far-reaching impact on how organizations understand their customers, frame markets and identify trends. The deal applies Twitter data, what the company called the “public pulse of the planet,” with IBM’s analytics software, customer engagement platforms and consulting services.
“This alliance will let enterprises incorporate Twitter data into their decision-making through an established set of IBM tools, solutions and consulting services,” wrote Chris Moody, Twitter Data Strategy vice president, in a blog post.
“From a data perspective, Twitter represents an enormous public archive of human thought that captures the ideas, opinions and debates taking place around the world on almost any topic at any moment in time,” he said. “While companies have long listened to what their customers are saying on Twitter, complex enterprise decisions often require input from a lot of different systems. IBM’s expertise is in integrating complex systems and data to make better decisions.”
IBM said it will train “tens of thousands” of Global Business Services consultants on the business applications for Twitter data. The vendor said its analytics portfolio includes some 15,000 analytics consultants, 4,000 analytics patents, 6,000 industry solution business partners, and 400 mathematicians.
The deal has three components:
- IBM will offer Twitter data as part of its cloud-based services offerings, including its new Watson Analytics service and a cloud-based data refinery service for developers to embed data services in applications. In addition, developers will be able to integrate Twitter data into new cloud services with IBM’s Watson Developer Cloud or IBM Bluemix platform-as-a-service.
- IBM and Twitter will deliver a series of solutions, the first of which will integrate Twitter data with IBM ExperienceOne customer engagement solutions, enabling sales, marketing, and customer service professionals to map sentiment and behavior to better engage and support their customers. The two companies also will develop industry-specific solutions for banking, consumer products, retail, travel and transportation.
- IBM Global Business Services professionals will have access to Twitter data for consulting services.
“Twitter provides a powerful new lens through which to look at the world – as both a platform for hundreds of millions of consumers and business professionals, and as a synthesizer of trends,” said Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman, president and chief executive.
